Bessette/Pitney’s AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS: DELIBERATION, DEMOCRACY AND CITIZENSHIP reviews the idea of "deliberative democracy." Building on the book, this blog offers insights, analysis, and facts about recent events.

Search This Blog

Thursday, April 6, 2017

Polls on Media Bias and Trust

In a contentious political landscape, Americans increasingly believe the news media generally favors one political party over the other. Sixty-two percent of U.S. adults say the media has a favorite, up from about 50% in past years. Just 27% now say the media favors neither major party.
...Gallup asked those who perceive political bias in the news media to say which party the news media favors. Almost two-thirds (64%) of those who believe the media favors a political party say it is the Democratic Party. Only about a third as many (22%) believe the media favors Republicans.

The current tensions between Trump and the news media are, according to most U.S. adults, problematic. About eight-in-ten Americans (83%) say current tensions have made the relationship between the administration and the news media unhealthy; just 15% say it is healthy despite current tensions.

Americans also think these tensions are impacting them directly. About three-in-four U.S. adults (73%) say that these tensions are getting in the way of access to important national political news and information.

A first-of-its-kind statewide poll found that three-quarters of California Democrats trust journalists to accurately cover the news, but an overwhelming majority of Republicans — 8 in 10 — have little to no trust in the news media.

Similarly, 84 percent of Republicans surveyed feel that coverage of President Donald Trump was too harsh, while 62 percent of Democrats said it wasn’t critical enough.

“It’s like the Democrats and Republicans are living in alternate universes when it comes to the news media,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies poll.